Best Known As: Music Performer

Gist:  Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), better known by his stage name, Jay-Z, is an American hip hop artist and businessman. He is the former CEO of Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records. He co-owns The 40/40 Club and the New Jersey Nets. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having sold over 26 million units in the United States and receiving several Grammy Awards for his musical work. Along with his financial and musical success, Jay-Z is known for being involved in many quarrels with other artist in the rap industry, the most well known being between him and fellow New York rapper Nas, which was eventually settled in 2005.

Jay-Z's debut album, Reasonable Doubt, is ranked by Rolling Stone as #248 on its "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". His critically acclaimed album, The Blueprint, was written in only two days. After announcing his retirement from recording music in 2003, he returned in late 2006 with the album Kingdom Come, which sold 680,000 copies in its first week, Jay-Z's highest-selling album in a one-week period. MTV named him number one on their list of the greatest MCs of all time.

Carter married Beyoncé Knowles on April 4, 2008.

Life Facts:  After reaching a new distribution deal with Def Jam in 1997, Jay-Z released his follow-up In My Lifetime, Vol. 1. Executively produced by Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, it sold better than his previous effort. Jay-Z later explained that the album was made during one of the worst periods of his life. He was reeling from the death of his close friend The Notorious B.I.G. The album was a personal revelation for Jay-Z as he spun the tale of his hard knock upbringing. The album's glossy production stood as a contrast to his first release, and some dedicated fans felt he had "sold out". However, the album did feature some beats from producers who had worked with him on Reasonable Doubt, namely DJ Premier and Ski. Jay-Z mentioned on the YES Network's CenterStage show that if he could do one thing in his career over, it would be Vol. 1, claiming that "it [the cd] was this close to being a classic, but I put like, a few songs on there that ruined it". Two examples of what he was referring to are "I Know What Girls Like" and "(Always Be My) Sunshine". Both were produced by Bad Boy record producers and criticized as a commercialization of his sound. Like its predecessor, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 earned Platinum status in the United States.

In 1999, Jay-Z released Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter. Despite continued criticism for his increasingly pop-oriented sound, the album proved to be successful and went Platinum three times and sold over 5.6 million records worldwide. Vol. 3 most successful single was "Big Pimpin'", featuring UGK. By this time, Jay-Z was seen as a hip hop figurehead both by hardcore fans and by the hip hop industry due to his lyrics and his high album sales.

Jay-Z's next solo album was 2002's 4 million (U.S. only) selling The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse, a double-album. The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at number one, selling over 545,000 units and surpassing The Blueprint. It was later reissued in a single-disc version, The Blueprint 2.1, which retained half of the tracks from the original and went on to sell a further 800,000 copies. The album spawned two massive hit singles, "Excuse Me Miss" and "Bonnie & Clyde" featuring Jay-Z's girlfriend of four years Beyoncé Knowles. "Guns & Roses", a track featuring rock musician Lenny Kravitz, and "Hovi Baby" were two successful radio singles as well. The album features the tracks "A Dream", featuring Faith Evans and a recording of the late The Notorious B.I.G.; and "The Bounce", featuring Kanye West. The Blueprint 2.1 features tracks that do not appear on The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse, such as "Stop", "La La La (Excuse Me Again)", "What They Gonna Do, Part II" and "Beware" produced by and featuring Panjabi MC.

It was controversially announced on February 2, 2008 that Jay-Z would headline Glastonbury Festival in 2008, becoming the first major hip hop artist to headline the British festival. He was blamed by some for relatively slow ticket sales for the festival, although a more likely cause is the preceding run of terrible weather and flooding that in 2007 made life at the festival very difficult. One of the more outspoken critics of his selection was Noel Gallagher of Oasis fame. In response to Gallagher's criticism, Jay-Z opened his Glastonbury set with a tongue-in-cheek cover of Oasis's iconic song "Wonderwall". His Glastonbury performance was heralded as a successful response to pre-festival criticism. He also headlined many other summer festivals in 2008, including Roskilde Festival in Denmark, Hove Festival in Norway and O2 Wireless Festival in London.

Jay-Z also stated that after he finishing touring he will work on a new album. Timbaland has previously stated that he will be producing the entire album. Recently, however, Jay-Z went on record to say that it is not guaranteed to be a full Timbaland production.

During Kanye West's August 6, 2008 concert at Madison Square Garden, Jay-Z came out to perform a new song and he and Kanye proclaimed that it was to be on The Blueprint 3. On May 21, 2009, Jay-Z announced he would be parting ways with Def Jam, and is signed up in a multi-million dollar deal to sign for Live Nation. His next album The Blueprint 3 will be put out by Live Nation in September 2009.

Jay-Z co-owns The 40/40 Club, an upscale sports bar that started in New York City and has since expanded to Atlantic City, New Jersey. Future plans will see 40/40 Clubs in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Singapore. Roc-A-Fella also distributes Armadale, a Scottish vodka, in the U.S.

On October 16, 2006, Jay-Z's new commercial spot with Anheuser-Busch aired, featuring his latest single "Show Me What You Got". Jay-Z will serve as co-brand director for Budweiser Select while collaborating with the company on strategic marketing programs and creative ad development. He will be providing direction on brand programs and ads that appear on TV, radio, print, and high-profile events.

Jay-Z is a part-owner of the New Jersey Nets NBA team paying a reported $4.5 million for his share. He is interested in relocating the team to Brooklyn. In October 2005, he was reported in English media as considering buying a stake of Arsenal F.C., an English soccer team. However, at this point, this is still speculation.

Jay-Z has invested in a real estate development venture called J Hotels which recently acquired a $66 million mid-block parcel in Chelsea, New York. Jay-Z and his partners are contemplating constructing a high-end hotel or an art gallery building on the newly acquired site which has the potential to go up about twelve stories.

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During his retirement, Jay-Z also became involved in philanthropic activity. On August 9, 2006, he met with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan at the organization's headquarters in New York. The rapper pledged to use his upcoming world tour to raise awareness of ? and combat ? global water shortage. Already on the look-out for a way to, in his own words, "become helpful", he had been made aware of this issue during a visit to Africa. The effort took place in partnership with the UN, as well as MTV, which produced a documentary entitled Diary of Jay-Z: Water for Life, first airing in November 2006.

Jay-Z also, along with Sean "Diddy" Combs, pledged USD 1 million to the American Red Cross' relief effort after Hurricane Katrina. Jay-Z stated his support for Kanye West after the latter's outburst against President Bush during a live Katrina charity telethon. He also addressed the issue of the Katrina disaster, and the government's response, in his song "Minority Report".

On the song "Beat Without Bass", Lil Wayne takes an indirect at Jay-Z on verse stating

"You old ass rappers better stay on tour/ You like 44/ I got a 44 I'm 24 I could murk you and come out when I'm 44"

While Wayne doesn't explicitly out names, in the December 2006 issue of Complex Magazine in which Lil Wayne stated "I'm better than [Jay-Z]... I'm 24 years old. (...) I'm 13 years deep with five albums and 10 million records sold". He continued, "I don't like what he's saying about how he had to come back because hip hop's dead and we need him... What the fuck do you mean? If anything it's reborn, so he's probably having a problem with that. You left on a good note, and all of the artists were saying, 'Yo, this is Jay's house. He's the best.' Now he comes back and still thinks it's his house... It's not your house anymore, and I'm better than you". On the track "Watch What You Say to Me" Jay-Z makes an attack on Lil Wayne, rapping, "I hear you baiting me lately / I've been doing my best just to stay hater free / Still watch what you say to me / Sooner or later I take you up on your offering / Put you all in your place / Like I'm replacing your father / You're talking to the author / The architect of the Blueprint/ My DNA in your music / Motherfucker, you stupid? Watch what you say to me." Lil Wayne responded with a freestyle over "Ether", a song by Nas about his feud with Jay-Z. Eventually, the beef was resolved between them, and the two of them recorded tracks together like "Hello Brooklyn 2.0," "Mr. Carter," and "Swagga Like Us."

* Streets Is Watching (1998)

* The Best of Both Worlds (2002) ? with R. Kelly

* Unfinished Business (2004) ? with R. Kelly

* Collision Course (2004) ? with Linkin Park

Career Facts:  1998's Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life spawned the biggest hit of his career at the time, "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)". He relied more on flow and wordplay, and he continued his penchant for mining beats from the popular producers of the day such as Swizz Beatz, an upstart in-house producer for Ruff Ryders, and Timbaland. Other producers include: DJ Premier, Erick Sermon, The 45 King, and Kid Capri. Charting hits from this album included "Can I Get A...", featuring Ja Rule and Amil, and "Nigga What, Nigga Who", which featured Amil too. Vol. 2 would eventually become Jay-Z's most commercially successful album; it was certified 5x Platinum in the United States and has to date sold over 8 million worldwide. The album went on to win a Grammy Award, although Jay-Z boycotted the ceremony protesting DMX's failure to garner a Grammy nomination.

Jay-Z released his tenth album entitled American Gangster on November 6, 2007. After viewing the Ridley Scott film of the same name, he was heavily inspired to create a new "concept" album that depicts his experiences as a street-hustler.

The album is not the film's official soundtrack, although it will be distributed by Def Jam.

Jay-Z's American Gangster depicts his life in correlation to the movie American Gangster.

At the start of the album's first single, "Blue Magic", Jay-Z offers a dealer's manifesto while making references to political figures of the late 1980s with the lyric: "Blame Reagan for making me to into a monster, blame Oliver North and Iran-Contra, I ran contraband that they sponsored, before this rhymin' stuff we was in concert." Also notable about the "Blue Magic" music video was Jay-Z flashing 500 euro notes, in what Harvard Business School professor Rawi Abdelal has called a "turning point in American pop culture's response to globalization."

Joe Budden raised eyebrows on a remix of "Pump it Up" featuring Jay-Z where the rappers appeared to be battling each other. This has led to speculations of bad blood between the two being a factor in the constant delays The Growth has suffered, since Jay-Z was the President of Joe's then parent label, namely, Def Jam. However, both men have denied this. But more conversation was brought up, e.g., how Dame Dash signed Budden to Roc-A-Fella without telling Jay-Z, whom Dame was partners with at the time. Later, Joe would be let go from Def Jam while under Jay-Z's presidency, and his second album would never be released.

On the song titled "Talk 2 Em", which leaked December 15, 2007, Budden took stabs at Jay-Z's relevance as an artist and his abilities as Def Jam president. He expressed his thoughts and feelings toward his former boss,

?Maybe you should study your understudy/I mean, are we hustlin?/or are we grown up/every time I hear you/ya changin? ya tone up/when the new generation think about Jordan/all they remember is when Iverson crossed ?em/take off the blazer, loosen up the tie/niggas fell in love when Superman died.?

Since this time, Jay-Z hasn't directly responded.